


Auld Acquaintance

by soranokumo



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon - Original Game, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 02:12:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/616931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soranokumo/pseuds/soranokumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after Meteor fell, and the New Year is coming on fast. Midgar has staved off the effects of the long winter as well as it could, and Rufus decides it's time to check in on a certain wayward Planetary hero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Auld Acquaintance

**Author's Note:**

> Fic was written for the ffvii_yaoi community's New Year Anthology, [A New Year's Dirge](http://ffvii-yaoi.dreamwidth.org/31493.html), as edited by the lovely xiaa. If you get the chance, go take a look! There's some lovely fic and art in there, and I'm really happy I got to contribute.

***

One of the things that they had managed to salvage from the wreckage was an old clock. When Rufus had been young he'd thought the thing looked strange, old, pretentious… fitting for his father, perhaps, but not for the rest of the slick, modern designs inside the Shinra Headquarters Building. Now, Rufus rather liked it. It had been patched up and the insides fixed—Reeve said he had enjoyed it, but Rufus thought it was to appease him, since Reeve's betrayal had been something of a sore point following Meteor—and now it hung on the wall in his new office in the new Shinra Headquarters Building, and it fit right in. It was patched together from old parts, relied on physics and elbow grease to keep itself alive, and there was something comforting about its constant sound. He didn't really know what had changed. He was certain it would have driven his younger self mad to have it ticking and tocking in his ear all day.

Rufus set his pen down beside the report he had been reviewing, glanced at the clock, then pushed himself back from the desk and stood. He still walked with a limp, and he was feeling strange enough to keep his cane with him that night, so he retrieved it from beside his desk and went to the wall of windows to look outside.

The view was far less magnificent, but the building was far shorter now at only five stories. Midgar was dark; the night sky was still hidden by the large chunk of plate hanging over the ruins. The snow was still high—the long winter was longer than any of them had expected, but at least they were scraping out a survival, at least they were scraping together something that even vaguely looked like business—but there were lights outside. People running about in the streets, celebrating, loud, obnoxious, probably inebriated.

There was a knock at the door, and Rufus turned partway to look at it. "Yes?"

The door came open and one of the young Turks stuck her head in. "Sir, it's… It's Cloud Strife, sir."

"Let him in."

"Sir." The Turk held open the door, watching Cloud with an odd mixture of wariness and awe as he stepped inside the room. The Turk glanced at Rufus but he only nodded, and she closed the door behind Cloud.

Cloud stood quietly just inside the room, not coming any closer, and Rufus thought it interesting, the flicker of those glowing eyes about the room, as if checking for all the possible escape routes before settling on Rufus. Most of the office was still dark; the only lights on were around his desk, and seeping in from outside.

"You're looking well," Rufus lied, turning to face Cloud and resting both hands on his cane. If anything he thought Cloud looked like he could be eating better, and while he had always been lean, there was something about it now—like what there was left of him was clinging to his bones. "Please come in. I'm honestly a little surprised to see you. You hadn't even responded to my message."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Cloud said. "You said you had business for me."

"So professional," Rufus said, and walked back to his desk, sitting down, since Cloud didn't seem inclined yet to make himself comfortable. "Well, I do have business for you, but it's not your usual sort of business. The level of monster attacks has actually declined for three solid months. The Mako energy spikes are less frequent—ah, but you've probably heard that from your friends in Cosmo Canyon."

"Get to the point, Rufus," Cloud said, shifting and placing his hand on his hip.

"The point is," and Rufus leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands on his lap, "that it's been five years since Meteor fell, we're not struggling as much as we were last year, it's the new year in approximately eight minutes, and any second now the fireworks are going to go off and here you are, coming to my office, for 'business.' Why aren't you out there?"

Cloud just stared at him, blinked. "What?"

"I'm certain your friends are having a celebratory party, aren't they? You'll notice the lack of Turks. Even their cold-hearted employer has given them the night off. I even had an agreement with the one at the door to leave once you'd arrived… or at 11:50, whichever came first. Yet you're here, ostensibly for work."

Cloud shrugged his shoulders, and looked away, at the clock on the wall. The hands were inching closer to midnight… to the New Year. "I'm free to do as I please, I thought." He glanced at Rufus. "And I didn't think you had any reason to care about what I did with my time."

Rufus only smiled at him. "Indeed. But I'm sure it occurred to you to wonder why I even bothered calling you directly, since you don't seem to be in much of a habit of answering your phone these days." Cloud's expression didn't change much beyond the slight widening of his eyes, and Rufus smirked. "Come now. Rude hears quite a lot from Seventh Heaven. Ms. Lockheart is rather put out by your stubbornness not to pick up the phone."

At that, Cloud's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your—"

"So it shouldn't surprise you," Rufus continued, "that I've also heard that you've been disappearing for months at a time this past year… an increase from 'weeks' just a few years ago. The monsters are slowing down, Cloud—so what is it out there that is requiring so much of your time, hm? It isn't the 'business.' Clearly."

Cloud made a soft sound and turned away, and it was that little defiant movement that reminded Rufus of five years ago on the rooftop of that wretched tower and that same defiance—

"You've been favoring your left side ever since you entered," Rufus said, softly, before Cloud could start for the door. "You look the same as you did since I last saw you, same as all the SOLDIERs… and I know how quickly you recover. And I know how quickly you can move, Cloud. So what could have injured you… and what could have done so badly enough you're actually showing it?"

"Midgar is safer," Cloud said, grudgingly, "but the rest of the Planet is still hurting, Rufus."

"You took down a nightmarish dragon while they were digging me out of the rubble," Rufus said, repeating, "I know how quickly you can move."

The glare of one bright blue eye over a dark-clad shoulder. "It's nothing."

"If it were nothing, you wouldn't be here arguing with me about it," Rufus said, and stood, reaching for his cane. He grimaced, and walked out from behind his desk. "So. It's almost time for those fireworks we worked so very hard to import from Wutai… are you going to stay and have a drink with me or not?"

"Is that your business?" Cloud muttered, looking at the door.

"If that's how you want to think about it, then yes," Rufus said.

***

Cloud was still prickly, but as Rufus went to the sideboard of the room, he went to stand in front of the wall of windows, looking outside. People were extinguishing some of the lights in anticipation of the fireworks, and Midgar took on a strange gloomy darkness again. Glancing at Cloud, Rufus couldn't help but think that he still cut a dramatic figure, though he was certain Cloud would deny it. The dark clothing clung to his body in just the right spots, while the longer outer coat draped in ways to give him that subtle drama that no one else had dared pull off since the events surrounding Meteor. Rufus couldn't help but think that it was, perhaps, some subtle nod to the past.

He uncorked the champagne, poured their glasses full, left his cane by the sideboard and brought the drinks back to Cloud.

"Remember, nothing yet," Rufus said, glancing at his clock. "We still have some time before the countdown."

"Hm." Cloud took the drink in his right hand, but kept looking outside. They stood in silence, both looking outside, before Rufus tried again.

"Does it really hurt you that much?" When Cloud didn't react, Rufus just kept looking outside. "Everything about you says, 'look, don't touch,' but I can't imagine that it's true. You came here, after all."

"Does everything have to have two or three or five different meanings, to you?" Cloud countered. "Can't you just take it as it is?"

"I take everything as it is," Rufus said, "but I'm also quite aware that most things have more layers to them than is immediately obvious. Your outermost layer says you're fine. You're cold, stand-offish, strong… everything except for favoring your left arm, like I said. But you came here, after I left you that phone message. So, what were you hoping for?"

"I don't think I was hoping for anything," Cloud said.

"Hmm. And your arm?"

Cloud sighed. "If you must know… I've been hunting down her remains. Sometimes they fight back. Sometimes they even land a hit on me."

"'Her,'" Rufus repeated. "Jenova?" Cloud grunted, and Rufus nodded. “I see... But I still have a hard time believing you would have let anything like that touch you if you could avoid it. So of course… if it really isn't anything, then you wouldn't mind showing me, now would you?"

"Rufus," Cloud said, but the glare that he turned on Rufus didn't last long. There were cracks in the facade, and when it broke Cloud just breathed in and looked away. "Look, I don't… I don't care. Do whatever the hell you want."

Rufus laughed. "Now don't say that. You don't actually want to give me permission for everything I want, do you?" But although he laughed, he didn't stop from reaching, from pulling up the long sleeve of Cloud's coat. Cloud didn't look, didn't watch, just kept looking away at nothing, though his gloved hand twitched underneath Rufus's touch.

And Rufus felt the laughter die in his throat quickly.

The marks were black and violent, reaching up Cloud's forearm, high up to his elbow. Though they were faint, Rufus could trace the lines of Cloud's blood just by following the pale green veins. He found his fingers starting to do just that and stopped himself, reaching up instead to pluck down the edge of Cloud's long sleeve, let it fall dark and heavy like a shroud.

"That is rather impressive," he murmured. "And… nothing so recent that it was caused by an errant blow, was it?"

"No," Cloud said, "that's healed already. It was on the other side."

"But it makes for a handy excuse when there are inconvenient questions," Rufus supplied, and Cloud nodded. "You've seen someone about that, I hope?"

"Seen who? They're all dead." Cloud snickered, then laughed, pained. "Not that that stops them anymore."

He blinked in alarm, though he kept his expression mild enough. The sudden turn around from stoicism to this kind of dark humor… "Last I checked, there has been only one man to return from the dead… unless there's something else you've been hiding from us."

"No, no, they're still…" Cloud shook his head, then looked down at the flute of champagne. "They're still dead."

"Years ago, Cloud," Rufus said. The lights outside the windows extinguished; the lights inside the building went out automatically in honor of the event, as outside voices rose up, starting to count. The clock on the wall tick-tocked away as Rufus's eyes adjusted to the lack of light, and the glow from Cloud's eyes were strangely intense. "Come now… don't bring in the New Year looking like that." He held up his own glass. "Should old acquaintance be forgot?"

"N-never," Cloud answered, and looked up, catching Rufus's own gaze. "But…"

"I can't imagine they'd want you looking like this," Rufus said, and gods knew he didn't know any of them that well—but he'd known Cloud long enough, now, and if nothing else there were Turk records to fill in the blanks. "Certainly not him… nor her…" He paused, then said, "Or _him_ , either."

Outside, there were cheers, and the fireworks started. There'd be ashes all over the place, dirtying the snow, in the morning, but right then there were people cheering, celebrating, carrying on. Rufus ignored it, didn't react, only watched the realization dawning in Cloud's eyes, and Rufus lowered his glass to clink it against Cloud's as the clock on the wall tolled midnight, and the start of the New Year.

"Never forgotten," he said, and Cloud finally nodded, and they raised their glasses up, drank down the champagne.

***

Out of all the things Rufus had intended—out of all the thoughts and plans he had had in his head after leaving his message on Cloud's phone that morning—this wasn't quite it. He had noticed something was wrong when Rude would come back from his time off at Seventh Heaven without a look of perfect bliss—or what counted for that, anyway, on Rude. Reno's nagging and pestering had finally gotten Rude to reveal that Lockheart was growing worried sick over Cloud's continued extended absences, that he was withdrawing, that he was disappearing from Avalanche's lives.

And while things had been rocky, then at least cordial, between Shinra and Avalanche after Meteor had fallen—while Rufus had never actually known Cloud beyond their business-like encounters—he told himself he had plenty of reason to be concerned.

After all, it had yet to be seen whether Sephiroth's shadow would follow him down the same path.

***

The champagne went down, and instead of offering another to Cloud, while the fireworks were going off, Rufus had simply done what he'd been wanting to do for years. He cupped Cloud's chin with his own fingers, leaned down and kissed him. He halfway expected Cloud to shove him away, and he didn't know if he was more pleased that his personal hypothesis seemed correct or that Cloud's gloved fingers gripped his clothes and pulled him closer for a second, then a third. His teeth caught at Cloud's lip and Cloud gasped, and Rufus took the opening with a low growl of pleasure, watching the way those brilliant blue eyes grew heavy-lidded.

When they separated, Rufus held onto one of Cloud's hands, keeping him from pulling away… not that Cloud did. 

"And here I thought my hopes would remain forever unrealized," Rufus said, and Cloud stared up at him.

"I…"

"You need somewhere you can disappear for awhile, somewhere you don't have to worry about hiding yourself," Rufus said. "I can give you that."

"Liar," Cloud breathed. "A man like you always has to worry about the way he looks."

"A man like me can buy anonymity for whoever he wants." He leaned down, breathing in Cloud's scent. How could someone smell like the wild forests of his home a thousand miles away from Midgar? "Only the Turks would know, and it isn't as if they don't know about you and that history you're so ashamed of—"

"That's how you know?" Cloud asked, though his breath hitched when he felt Rufus's lips against his neck. "And you—you aren't—"

"No, I'm not," Rufus said. "It would be ridiculous to be jealous… and obviously I'm not one to judge. I'm attracted to power, myself."

"It wasn't like that…"

"Hm?" He leaned back, at that, before realizing with a grimace that his legs weren't going to keep him up much longer unless he embarrassingly started leaning against Cloud. Without his fingers letting go of Cloud, he started back toward his chair, sinking into it, and Cloud bracing his arms against the arm rests to keep himself from sprawling on Rufus's lap. The fireworks had stopped, but the lights were still out, leaving him in the dark with only the ambient glow from outside and the shine from Cloud's eyes giving them any kind of illumination. It was just the two of them, in the dark, and though Rufus had made it clear enough to the staff that he wanted the lights let back on after the countdown was finished—well, he could forgive them this time. "Then what was it like?" he said, reaching up and touching Cloud's face. "I won't understand unless you tell me. And unlike most of them, I'll even listen."

"Avalanche—" Cloud started, then cut himself off with a shake of his head. "Look, let's… let's leave them out of this."

"Agreed," Rufus said, tracing his fingers down Cloud's cheek. "But that doesn't mean you get to dodge the question."

"It was… it… he…" There was heat across Cloud's face, a different kind of heat, and Cloud's blue eyes dropped down, looking away. "He and I… we… we understood…"

"Well, obviously he gave you something you needed," Rufus said, giving Cloud an out. If he wasn't quite ready to speak candidly about it—that was fine. He wasn't certain if he wanted the whole history, in any case. "Which means you gave him something he needed, as well… something he didn't get from anyone else. My question to you, then…" When Cloud's eyes looked back up to him, he nodded, even smiled a little. "Is whether or not me and my… injured body will be enough for you?"

Cloud stared at him, leaned down, tilted his head and kissed him again. "You've got a lot to learn," he murmured, moving to whisper in Rufus's ear, "about what I want."

He chuckled. "Is that a challenge? I do love challenges. After we got the last of the new plans for the sewers finished, I was worried things would get boring—ow."

Cloud's teeth let go of his earlobe, and Cloud leaned back again to look at him. "They aren't… They aren't going to talk about this? With Avalanche. Not even Rude?"

"No. Gods, it's Rude you're talking about. He doesn't talk."

"And Reno?"

"Will probably jerk off to the security feeds, but he'll keep his mouth shut." At Cloud's expression, Rufus smirked. "Come now. You're a powerful man. I'm not going to give up my security on the off chance I manage to piss you off tonight."

Cloud snapped his mouth shut, then shrugged. "Fair enough," he murmured.

"Good. At some point, you really will have to let Ms. Lockheart at least know that you aren't running off on suicide missions… but we'll save that discussion for later." He slid his hands down Cloud's body, feeling the lean muscular build underneath the layers of clothing, and settled his hands at Cloud's waist. "Hmm… much later."

"No more speeches," Cloud said, moving to straddle his lap. "Just… this, for now."

"Fair enough," Rufus echoed, and dragged him down again for another kiss.

***


End file.
